french ninja wrote:Finally finished this. Feel free to add comments on how I could improve it.
Status: Completed

Origins of the Raki by Hvaldyth

It is a common occurrence for travelers coming to our city of Haafinheim to come into contact with strange beasts of which no other analogue exists in any other province of the Empire. Slightly smaller than the average Haafingar grey wolf, the raki, as we have come to call him, is a creature of deception. During the day, it can commonly be found sleeping under the canopy of the vast pine forests of the western Holds. With its soft white fur, large eyes and gentle cooing noises, one would think it would be the perfect pet for one’s kyne wife. However, once darkness creeps onto our land, the raki unleashes a rage as if possessed by Mauloch the Mountain Fart himself. Highly agile, it can easily leap over the tallest of high elves and makes quick work of it’s prey by attacking its prey from behind. Constant alertness and quick reflexes are absolutely vital should you find yourself confronted by these creatures, and this could not be stated enough.

Back in the year 110 of the Third Era, Potema, the Wolf Queen of Solitude, was visited by King Orgnum of Pyandonea to plot against her brother, Antiochus. As part of his entourage was a collection of what we now call raki as a diplomatic gift alongside two maomer handlers who . After showing the beasts’ usefulness in a hunt, where young Uriel III was saved from the wrath of a wounded but enraged boar by a team of raki, Potema became enamored by the creatures, and the beasts from then on followed her wherever she went throughout Castle Solitude.

As any citizen of the Septim Empire will tell you, Potema’s reign of Solitude was notorious and rank with the intimidation and repression of her subjects, and her ruthlessness only greatened with the onset of the War of the Red Diamond. There were rumors concerning the filleting of her prisoners in order to be fed to her pet raki. Such stories filled the camp of King Magnus of Lilmoth, instilling fear into the hearts of the famed argonian spearmen of Black Marsh's Jewel.

However, the Wolf Queen’s early tactical victories were short-lived and by the year 137, the War of the Red Diamond was over and the victorious armies of Lilmoth and Cyrod were left with the task of restoring Haafingar to it’s former glory. But what had become of the queen’s infamous pets? According to popular legends spread by Haafingar’s skalds, during the chaos that followed the fall of Castle Solitude, the raki turned on their maomer handlers and escaped the castle via a narrow window in Potema’s quarters, lept into the moat and swam to shore. Over the next couple of decades, the raki mated and to this very day, they present an ever present danger to those who trek to our fair city.